Earl Stallings was one of eight signers of the open letter "A Call For Unity," which precipitated a critical response from Rev.
He dropped out of school at 16 to take care of his brothers and sisters by managing a fruit stand in Knoxville, Tennessee after his mother died.
Stallings was forced into the workforce by The Great Depression, and returned to high school at age 21, graduating at 23.
[1][3] He was a quarter time student pastor of Buffalo Grove Baptist Church in Jefferson City in 1940.
He was then a half time student pastor in 1947–51 at Dumplin Creek Baptist Church in Jefferson City.